Prios whimpered and pulled his knees to his chin.
'I'm here. I came back for you,' Catrin said, but he did not seem to hear. Rocking back and forth, he seemed to have left this reality for another, and Catrin shouted for him to wake. Still he didn't respond. Movement caught Catrin's attention, and her spirit froze. Slipping in from the blackness came the demons, seemingly no longer willing to wait. The sound of movement behind her alerted her to more danger, and Catrin prepared herself for one final effort. She would carry Prios and simply make a run for it. It seemed like suicide since they would both be defenseless, but Catrin could find no other solution. At least they would die
Reaching down, she gathered Prios's energy, which had weight and mass and was more difficult for her to carry than she had imagined; she would not give up, though. Pulling energy from the night air, she conjured four herald globes, each taxing her but intended to drive the demons back. It didn't work.
Pain seared her soul as Catrin moved past the first of the demons. She spun slowly, awkwardly, and half fell out of the barn and into the night. Demons poured down the valley walls like a flood of evil. Shadow dragons flew overhead, ridden by men with twisted faces. Only Catrin's conjured herald globes cast any light, and she moved like a candle afloat on a raging river. Roiling clouds of deep black obscured the night skies. Her beams of light illuminated the fog, casting rays of color around her and Prios, but the darkness pressed in close, causing the sphere of color to shrink. Claws and slavering jaws broke through the light. Gibbering madness drove searing knives through Catrin's mind and she screamed.
Prios flung his limbs outward, seemingly awakened by Catrin's anguish, and he sent balls of lightning into the demons. Catrin screamed as burning embers branded her soul. With a cry of rage, she rose up and cast flames in a wide arc, knowing it was the last of her reserves. Any more and she would simply dry up and blow away.
Light parted the darkness. Like a knife of fire it raced from the skies and cast demons spinning as it came. Awestruck, Catrin saw Kyrien in the form of flame and lightning. He was even more beautiful than in the physical world, and he proved as deadly as well.
Catrin wondered if she heard a bit of sarcasm or perhaps even a bit of reprimand in Kyrien's thoughts, which came to her in images and impressions. The fire dragon swooped down low and grabbed Catrin in his mighty claws. Demons leaped and snapped at them, but Catrin cast beams of light, scorching them with their brilliance. She gave herself to the effort, unconsciously drawing energy from Kyrien, and only his urgings moved her toward restraint. In a moment of exhilaration and fear, Kyrien caught the wind and soared higher, aiming at two holes in a rock face. An instant later, he slammed into it with a force that should have left a crater in its wake. Instead, it left Catrin's spirit once again in her body, gasping for air and waiting for the feeling to return to her limbs. Beside her, Prios lay nearly as still as death, his breathing slow and shallow. With the world spinning before her, she said, 'Take me to Kyrien.'
'But, Catrin,' Millie said, so beside herself that she slipped; she almost never used Catrin's name in public. 'You must rest and drink and eat and recuperate yourself. You're in no condition to go anywhere. And I'm sorry but Kyrien hasn't been here in years.'
'He's here,' Catrin said.
'Get more men down here!' Chase shouted as he watched his nightmares spring to life around him. Dark beasts loped down the ridgeline while others howled their way down the center of the valley. These creatures were different from anything he'd ever seen, but when one turned and howled, Chase saw traces of Gholgi, the fabled enemies of mankind he and Catrin had faced on the Firstland. These monsters were even more terrifying. There was intelligence in their piercing eyes accompanied by chilling savagery. They wore crude armor and wielded jagged weapons. Sounds barked among them sounded like a canine language. When a dark shape soared over them, the demons moved almost as one. In tight formation, demons created a mesh with their crude and varying shields. They approached Kyrien, who lay thrashing on the valley floor, his eyes focused on something no one else there could see. Behind the shield bearers came hulking beasts. Chase knew he was helpless, and the numbers he saw coming were more than his men could fend off, but Kyrien had saved Catrin's life more than once, and Chase would not let him die if he could help it.
'Find a good place to brace your spears,' Morif shouted. 'When they come, let them fight the Godfist itself instead of the strength of your arms. Let them impale themselves!'
Chase appreciated Morif's enthusiasm, knowing his men would need every boost in morale they could get just to keep them from turning and running. It was all Chase could do to face this new enemy-such malice!
Dust and dirt leaped from the ground, blinding and scouring, as the first of the dragons attacked. Morif stood facing the beast, watching it come, his spear lying on the ground before him. Just before the dragon reached him, he knelt down and raised the tip of his spear. The butt he jammed into a saddle of rock. The dragon was ready, though, and managed to make it only a glancing blow. Before it passed over, however, it knocked Morif and a dozen other men from their feet with a lash of its tail. Some did not rise again. More dragons circled and Chase knew it was only a matter of time.
Demons slipped past the downed guards and hacked at Kyrien's sides, trying to get to his soft underbelly but so far were stymied by his thick scales. One grabbed the spear from a downed guard and ran at Kyrien's eye.
Chase cried out, willing his body to move faster than he knew was possible. He was supposed to protect Kyrien. How would he ever tell Catrin that he'd let them kill her dragon? 'No!' he shouted just before the demon was engulfed in liquid fire. It pulsed like lightning and blasted the air, sending Chase and others sprawling. Landing on his back, the breath knocked from him, Chase nonetheless found his soul lightened; Catrin stood atop the stair with lightning pulsing around her outstretched hands, lashing out at feral dragons and demons simultaneously.
'For Catrin!' Chase roared, and those around him rallied, many smoking and limping as they pulled themselves from the ground. The darkness was undeterred, and a flood of demons clogged the valley, the dragons protecting their flanks. More people streamed down the stairs with Catrin among them, warding off attacks from the air. She could not guard the people and Kyrien at the same time, which left Chase and his men vulnerable. The sight of Morif leaning on Kyrien with a spear in his hand did much to bolster Chase's morale; at least his old friend was not dead.
Thunder rolled through the valley, though no rain fell, and the skies were now clear. Webs of light arced overhead, and Chase could not look up for fear of losing what night vision he possessed. If he had looked up, he would have seen the massive black dragon bearing down on him. Instead, he was caught completely by surprise when what looked like a tree trunk slammed into him. The air rushed from his chest in a whoosh, and he flew backward. For a time he watched the battle rush away from him, but then his feet struck something.
The world spun wildly.
Darkness.
Catrin watched a dragon tuck its wings and dive, aiming for Chase, and she screamed, lashing out with more energy than she could control. Lightning struck the dragon and caused it to veer and land only a glancing blow on Chase. Still, her cousin's body tumbled through the air. The out-of-control blast also struck people around her, and just as Catrin hastily released the energy, it recoiled. The concussion sent those around her sprawling, and she fell to her knees, no longer in full control of her limbs. Before her was the most frightening thing she'd ever seen: the eyes of a feral dragon rising over a ledge. The beast clung to the rock and seemed to sense an opportunity. Gathering herself and trying to stand, Catrin prepared for the strike. One snap of its massive jaws, and she would be dead. At least it would be fast, she thought.
A high-pitched battle cry echoed sharply, and Khenna leaped across the gap. The fighter landed between the beast's eyes and sent a kick at one eye. The dragon blinked just in time, and its thick skin rendered the attack ineffectual, but then Khenna did something that stole Catrin's breath. Before the dragon could spring into the air, the woman took a coil of leather from her belt, held one end in each hand, and looped it over the dragon's snout. Had it made it under the lower jaw, Khenna might have been saved, but instead the leather strap only cleared the top jaw. The dragon bit down hard and leaped into the air. It turned and dived toward the valley floor. For a moment, Khenna stood tall, the wind whipping her hair and clothes. Catrin thought she might be able to stay upright, but then the dragon bit down again, and the strap snapped, one side breaking free and the other wedged between massive incisors. Khenna tried to catch her balance atop the head of a flying dragon, and for a moment she did, but in the next breath, she was tossed in the wind, still tethered to the dragon by the strap that was now
